[HCARC] Solder Question

[Gary J - N5BAA]

I’m aware of the EU banning the importation of anything with lead solder – since ham radios are sold to EU countries I am sure they are lead free too.

As far as teaching hands on stuff I don’t know, but there are a bunch of newer Hams that sure want to learn.  I hear the complaints frequently that they wished the club would do more newbie level training.  The teaching problem hardly stems from those who care to learn.  It’s one of the reasons I haven’t taken the Extra Exam yet – I don’t care to just memorize and pass – I want to know what I have learned so I an put it to good use. Most all of my connectors have already begun tarnishing.  Pretty sure they are silver plated.  Not sure why they would silver plate a crimp N connector though, hopefully to make it connect better.

Came across a piece of second hand RG-8/U or LMR-400 coax today that surprised me.  It’s from Cable-Experts and down the whole 6 foot piece the center conductor is completely loose inside the dielectric which is some sort of semi-clear plastic.  The dielectric is separated from the conductor by a good 32nd of an inch all around the center conductor for the whole length of the piece of coax.  Have never seen something like that before.  The jacket and braid are both intact and look normal.  Interesting and disturbing if I owned the remainder of the coax this piece was cut from.

Gary J
N5BAA

From: Kerry Sandstrom 
Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2014 8:49 PM
To: Gary J - N5BAA ; hcarc at mailman.qth.net 
Subject: Re: [HCARC] Solder Question

Gary,

I didn't see your question on field day antennas.  The answer depends on many things.  First, what kind of filters are you going to use.  You need them on both the transmitter and the receiver and the narrower the better, a few kHz.  I think the big guys use xtal filters at the RF frequency.  Look at a typical repeater set up where you have coaxial filters which i guess have 60 + dB attenuation 600 kHz away at 2 m.  I'm not sure it is practical for a club like ours.  Check old QST's for articles on the subject.  

The Jameco catalog specifies whether components are lead-free or not.  Silver plate and gold plate shouldn't be a problem.  Some of the cables may be a problem.  By the way, the UHF connectors I have that are silver plated are obvious.  The silver plate tarnishes noticeably.  It it isn't tarnished, it may not be silver plated.  Really, you have to have connectors you trust.  I only use name brands or Mil qualified connectors.  Everything else is a gamble.

If you have some 40 tin/60 lead solder, it may be for plumbing.  It will have a high melting point.  Electronic tin-lead solder is either 60/40 or 63/37 tin/lead.  Silver solder is 2% Ag/62% Sn/ 36% Pb.

Gary, as far as why no one talks about this in ham radio, just look around.  How much are hams encouraged to do anything anymore?  Forty years ago the discussion was about hams who were appliance operators, they never built anything, just buy their receiver and transmitter.  Now, not only does nearly everyone buy their receiver and transmitter but they also buy all their accessories, their antenna and even their cables with the appropriate connectors already attached to the cables.  You already know how I feel about current operating techniques, hams don't even go looking for their own QSO's anymore, they get them off the internet.  There is no interest in teaching/learning soldering or anything else that would help you do things yourself.

I came across the problem from two directions, for a while I was the Haz Mat person for my lab.  I learned an awful lot, most of which I wasn't happy about.  Tin/lead solder was on its way out in the 90's.  I also came across it in ham radio as I started finding things which were, shall we say, difficult to solder.  Also buying parts I began to notice the "lead-free" description on components.  It has gotten nearly impossible to repair consumer electronics because it is all lead-free now, even the connectors on cables.  I bet new ham gear is the same, I just don't have any so I don't know!  I expect that if you are going to do much construction you will have to have two sets of soldering gear, one for lead containing components and one for lead-free components and you probably won't be able to intermix them.  Such is progress.       

This is the RoHS Directive,  naturally its from the EC but the US is doing it too.

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Directive (2002/95/EC)
RoHS Explained

RoHS: The European Union (EU) Directive on the Restriction of certain Hazardous Substances EU Directives must be transposed in each EU state into binding National legislation. This will restrict the use of certain substances in electrical and electronic equipment placed on the EU market beginning July 1, 2006.

The Directive seeks to limit the chance of hazardous substances possibly leaching out and polluting the environment during end-of-life recycling or disposal in landfills. The electronics industry is most affected by the restriction on lead, as it is a key component in electronic component packaging (pins), solders and solder pastes. While the term "lead-free" is sometimes used to describe RoHS, the real requirement for manufacturers is to design and ship products that are not only lead-free but fully RoHS compliant, meaning they do not contain more than the allowances of any of the hazardous substances named in the directive.

The hazardous substances and the proposed maximum concentrations levels are:

      Lead - Pb
      Mercury - Hg
      Cadmium - Cd
      Hexavalent Chromium - Cr(V1)
      Polybrominated Biphenyls - PBB
      Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers - PBDE 0.1% Max Concentration
      0.1% Max Concentration
      0.01% Max Concentration
      0.1% Max Concentration
      0.1% Max Concentration
      0.1% Max Concentration 


Well, that should keep you going for a while!  If I can find some connectors that are lead free, I'll let you know.  As far as I know, sheep haven't been declared hazardous yet, but stand by!

Kerry


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